Somebody took the gargantuan task of translating the miles of text in Oblivion to Japanese...

Is Japan ready for a 100% dead serious (well,99% the quest with the following scamps was a hoot) RPG WITHOUT cutesy characters,girls in I-can-almost-see-her-panties-short miniskirts and androgynous male leads?

Apparently the petition that Japanese gamers put out for a JP release for Oblivion worked...

Is Japan ready for a 100% dead serious (well,99% the quest with the following scamps was a hoot) RPG WITHOUT cutesy characters,girls in I-can-almost-see-her-panties-short miniskirts and androgynous male leads?

I love when people think they have the absolute truth (specially american)

Thats the point. Its trying to create a huge realistic world you can get lost in and just explore, discovering new places and things. Thats the beauty of it. Lots of people to talk to with hundreds of quests etc. Its a breathing world.

Oblivion is a western RPG with western-styled art, darker graphics, more realistic proportions on character face/body features, and a more-or-less open ended environment.

Essentially you're in full control of only one character. You aren't *required* to do every single side quest to beat the game. The main character has no clear identity, no dramatic background, no history, and no real backstory (past history) whatsoever. You have no real party mates, too.

The game is story driven, yes, but the story isn't just about 'you'...there are other things going on in the game that don't really involve you...essentially the whole world doesn't revolve around your character alone...there are political intrigues, social hierarchies, etc etc and every day events which take place wherein your involvement isn't really required.

There are no cut scenes and no dramatic camera angles during key moments. To some extent you can determine your character's moral alignment (whether he is a good character, an evil character or a neutral character). Lastly, the character has no love story/no love interest/no romantic angle.

Traditionally in Japan the accepted type of RPG is very linear, story/character focused, with a party of heroes. Side-quests are practically non-existent in JRPGs today (though they used to have a few, in the past...)

Character art is almost always made to look 'cute' and colorful, with a lot of pastel colors on their clothes and on other objects in the game such as buildings, items etc. Character faces usually have large, expressive eyes and clean faces (no wrinkles and other detail). Japanese RPGs that end up successful in Japan usually let you control a character that already has a set back story which is largely focused on by many cut scenes and moments in the game (usually preceded by some kind of amnesia which wears off over time). The way your character looks in a Japanese RPG is predetermined, most of the time, and in most of the successful games you have a party of characters with personalities distinct from your own.

Furthermore, the moral alignment of characters in successful JRPGs is almost always good....characters in JRPGs don't get the option to do 'evil' actions, at all (like attacking the town guard or civilians, for example).

Lastly, the most recent trend with JRPGs is to have some sort of romance story/love story integrated in the game that pushes the story along. This is the type of RPG that sells in Japan. We know this is true based on the sales figures for RPGs in Japan...games that meet these 'expectations' are the ones which sell in the millions, so we're sure that these types of games are the ones that have appeal in Japan.

Knowing this, if you were Bethesda, would you go through the massive undertaking of translating the game, let alone localizing it (making it appeal a bit more to the Japanese by modifying some things), knowing that your game hardly meets these set expectations that most Japanese gamers have?

While it is true that there is a market there in Japan for a game like this (as evidenced by the 'petition' mentioned ---there are Xbox 360 gamers in Japan who want to play this game), is that market large enough to warrant an effort to bring a translated version of Oblivion over to Japan?

In the end, in the gaming industry, if something isn't profitable, it just isn't worth doing.

im not a huge fan of Jrpgs, i much prefer western RPGS like KOTOR and Oblivion.
All JRPGs seem to be pretty homoerotic to me. Last one i finished was Enchatnted Arms and it was less subtle homosexual undertones, more a full blown gay-o-rama, even featuring a man on man kiss at the end.